Federal Investigation
by shulesaddict77
Summary: AU. It was just an ordinary case. It should have run smoothly but it didn't.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to my new story! Since I only have one on-going story right now I've thought I could definitely start a new one.**

**It's another AU story of mine. Mark is going to be a Special Agent with the FBI and Lexie … well, she isn't a doctor either. :-)**

**Mark is a mix out of a few law enforcement officers of my favorite shows. He definitely is a lot like Tony DiNozzo from NCIS, I might end up giving him some character traits of Booth from the TV show Bones, he definitely has his military background and he might also have a little Andy Trudeau in him from Charmed. Yeah, I definitely have a thing for law enforcement officers. :-)**

**I hope you enjoy!**

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**Chapter 1**

Mark hated stake outs. Really hated them. They were boring him to death. He didn't know why exactly. It wasn't as if he wasn't used to sitting around for hours, not making a move. He had been a sniper for almost twenty years. He was used to doing absolutely nothing than breathe for hours. He had done it countless times over the years when he had been waiting for the right moment to take his shot.

But now he was an FBI Agent and he should be chasing down suspects. Sitting around gave him too much time to think. Too much time to remember. He didn't want to think too much about his days in the military. It didn't come to any good anyway. He always tried to remember the good times, the joking around at camp, playing soccer or basketball while waiting for the next assignment. But most of the times he only remembered the bad times. Especially in his dreams. The grenades hitting ground beside him, ripping his comrades apart right in front of him. The screams of the injured, the blank eyes of the dead. He had been a sniper which had put him out of the worst combat zones most of the times but he still had seen a lot. Too much.

Yanking at his tie, he threw it in the back seat of his Porsche, cursing under his breath about having to use his own car for this investigation. At least he had something nice to look at. His gaze returned to the woman standing under the street light. She was really a looker. Great body and the lights sparkling in her shimmering brown hair would tempt every man to thread his hand through. He had to remind himself that she was completely off limits. She was only a way to get to the culprit he was chasing, not to mention that she was a hooker. But that didn't mean that he couldn't admire her body, especially those legs.

~M&L~

Lexie had noticed the black Porsche immediately though she had to admit that any other person would have probably not. It was a 911 Carrera 4S and she loved fast cars. She just didn't understand why the driver hadn't climbed out of it yet. He'd parked over there an hour ago and it gave her the creeps. Shaking her head inwardly, she reminded herself what she was currently doing. She was a hooker and someone parking their car a block away gave her the creeps. Maybe she should reconsider if she'd chosen the right job if a randomly parked car was almost freaking her out.

She straightened herself, pushing her breasts out, glad that she had decided to put on a push-up. She definitely needed every help she could get to be a convincing hooker. She'd made her hair curl, knowing that men liked it when her hair was a little wild. Her lips were bright red and her eye make-up just emphasized the deep brown color. Making her look more innocent than she actually was. She figured it was exactly the look she needed. Not to mention the dress that was hardly covering her body, leaving not much to imagination. But she figured that would exactly be the right dress for a hooker and that was the point of it. Being a hooker and looking like one.

~M&L~

Mark sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. It was time. Time to make his move. He'd observed the scene for over an hour and the one he was looking for hadn't showed. Not that he expected him to. That would have been way too easy.

Turning the key around, he started the car, smiling at the sound of the engine coming to life. God, he loved this car. Pulling out of the parking space, he sped up, halting with screeching brakes in front of her, hitting the button to lower the passenger side window. After all he needed to make the right entrance. He should act like a man who had earned the big money too fast and thought he could get everything he wanted as long as he payed enough for it. At least that was the part he was told to play.

When Lexie bent down to look into the car, she was surprised to find a good-looking man in it. She'd expected some overweight fifty-something man with almost no hair who tried to convince everyone how great he was by showing off his car. But she only needed a few seconds to take him all in and he definitely didn't fit into this category.

His face showed no signs of him being anything but thoroughly fit. A well-trimmed scruff adorned his face and she had to admit his salt and pepper hair made him stunningly handsome. As he leaned over from the driver seat, the light caught in his blue eyes and Lexie was certain that this man had broken a lot of hearts in the past. What didn't matter right now. Not what he was doing in the past and certainly not how handsome he was. He fit the profile. He could certainly be who she was looking for, so she leaned forward and gave him a good look at her cleavage.

"Hey, handsome. How are you doing?" Lexie almost purred, hoping that she sounded convincing.

"Wanna join me?"

"Sure. Why not?" She climbed into the car and shut the door before she turned around and stated firmly. "But at my place."

"Sure, sugar. I don't mind where we go."

Their ride to her motel room was pretty quiet, making Mark contemplating if she was new at the job. She definitely didn't make a move to feel him up and he actually expected something like it. Not that he had any experience with hookers. He never needed to pay for it. The women always came to him, offering themselves to him, some times even throwing their bodies at him. But maybe she didn't need to. Her scent that was filling the car might be enough. He was getting aroused by it and for once he'd pulled up the pictures of his military days by choice, the pictures he feared most of the times, but right now they helped him to not react to her like the man he was but like a FBI Agent who was pursuing a lead.

Lexie tried to stay calm, she couldn't act like she was nervous. She was a hooker. She should be used to this. So she willed her face to show nothing, forcing her hands to stay uncurled on her thighs. But she couldn't look at him. He just was … nothing like what she would have expected. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him shift gears and his long fingers wrapped around the gear shift made her shiver. This man oozed out sex pheromones and if she didn't keep in mind that he was probably a pimp she might be doing something completely stupid. Like finding out how those fingers felt when they were exploring her body.

But they were already at the motel she'd given him the address to. Of course it wasn't really her motel room. She would never sleep in something like this, afraid that the bugs would eat her alive while she slept, not to mention what she would catch when she would have made use of the bathroom. But she was a hooker after all. At least she was a hooker for this night and maybe she had caught a break in the case. Maybe the man beside her would have some answers.

"Doesn't look very appealing." Mark told her as he parked the car on the parking lot in front of the motel.

"Well, the only thing that should be appealing to you is me." Lexie said huskily, surprised about herself how easily she managed to slip into her role.

"Yeah, you are probably right." Mark replied, eying her thoroughly. Something was off, he just couldn't put a finger on it.

He climbed out of the car and walked around it, opening the door for her. Taking the hand he offered, Lexie stepped out of the car, trying to ignore that his fingers wrapped around hers made her tingle in all the wrong places. She couldn't believe she was actually attracted to him. Him of all people. This just made it obvious how messed up her life was. She was getting aroused by a pimp.

Nonetheless her fingers tightened around his, pulling him with her. After all she had a job to do. She led him to her room, turning around to lock eyes with him when she reached it, trying to quash the inappropriate feelings that were rising up in her chest when she looked into his steel blue eyes.

The feeling of something being terribly wrong just became stronger when they walked towards her room, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up and his sixth sense had never led him wrong. He was already starting to pull away from her when she turned around at the door that was apparently leading into her room and her dark brown eyes locked with his, making him forget for a second why he was standing in front of a motel room with her.

Lexie felt that she was losing him, could feel it in his hand that he would turn her down any second, so she convinced herself that she needed to get him into the room to question him and kissing him was the only way to achieve that goal. So she trailed her hands up his body, feeling the muscles under his shirt as she got on her tiptoes and kissed him passionately, surprised when she felt a shot of electricity shot through her body the moment their tongues met. Just her luck. The first man in ages who could really kiss and he was some pimp. Though she had to admit he was really a handsome pimp.

Mark couldn't believe that he was actually kissing her back. What was wrong with him? But her lips on his felt incredible and he couldn't pull away. He couldn't help deepening the kiss, his arms coming around her waist without him really wanting to put them there. She apparently had completely bewitched him and there was not one thing he could do against it.

Lexie searched with one hand for the knob of the door and opened it, pulling him inside with her. The moment he closed the door behind him, she swiveled around and ripped her gun away from its hiding place under the table, pressing it firmly against his ribs.

"NCIS." She said firmly. "We need to talk."

Mark needed a few seconds before he was able to fully comprehend the situation, not believing that she managed to take him by surprise like that. It shouldn't have happened. Giving her a sly smile, his hand suddenly shot forward and he grabbed her wrist, yanking it upwards and pulling her towards him with such speed that she wasn't able to react in any way.

Grinning down into her face, his one arm wrapped tightly around her while his other hand still had her gun hand in his grip, he spoke softly. "FBI. We definitely need to talk."

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**Well, this is the second update of the day. You just have to write when your muse feels like it. I always think the best chapters are those where my muse just takes over the control of my fingers on the keyboard and I didn't have to 'force' her to come up with anything. But that could be completely my imagination or wishful thinking. I hope you enjoyed and please tell me what you think about the beginning of this story. :-)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you very much for the reviews and favoriting and following!**

**Oh, and it's intentional that a certain person in this chapter sounds a lot like Gibbs (NCIS). I couldn't resist. :-) I hope you enjoy!**

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**Chapter 2**

He'd dressed with extra care this morning and deep down he knew he did it because he wanted to impress her and knock her off her feet. Mark threw the tie over his neck and started to tie it quickly, adjusting the knot before he shrugged on the jacket and took a last look into the mirror. He was wearing his best black suit which had cost him a fortune with a crisp white shirt and a black tie and his mouth twitched up in a lopsided grin. Yeah, he was definitely ready to meet her again.

"Let's have some fun." Mark said aloud and walked into his living room, grabbing his gun and badge before he left his apartment to drive to the Navy Yard to meet with his boss and Andrew Monroe, the boss of the NCIS Agent who'd pressed her gun into his ribs before he got the upper hand and pressed her against the wall instead.

Smiling smugly, he remembered exactly how her body had felt against his and he wouldn't say no to repeating the scene from yesterday preferable with no clothes on the next time she drew her gun on him. The kiss had been definitely promising and he wouldn't mind to explore this territory further. Knowing her name wasn't nearly enough, he wanted to get to know her body too.

~M&L~

Lexie stepped out of the elevator, carrying their usual coffee choices in one hand and walked towards her desk, hoping that her partner Scott just wasn't in the mood to tease her. But of course she had no such luck. The moment she sat down he jumped out of his chair, strolling towards her with a big grin on his face.

"I've heard you'd had an interesting client yesterday."

"Just shut it, Scott."

"Carter told me, you were plastered against the wall by him when they entered the room. Did he feel you up?"

Lexie blushed slightly as he remembered how his lean form had pressed into her body as he'd pinned her against the wall, asking her sharply what the hell an NCIS Agent was doing meddling in his case. She had already opened her mouth to hiss back that he had been the one who had no business in endangering their case but then her back-up had stormed in and in the whirlwind of activity over the next minutes she hadn't been able to talk to him again. He'd rushed out of the door after he'd shown the other agents his FBI badge, grunting something about his boss before he'd disappeared around the corner. The red color in her cheeks deepened further as she remembered his lips on hers and even though the kiss hadn't lasted for long it had definitely been a great kiss but hell would rather freeze over before she would tell Scott about it.

When their boss rounded the corner Lexie muttered under her breath so that only Scott could hear it. "Saved by the boss."

Scott swirled around and Monroe rushed by him, barking. "Burns, you are through the list yet?"

"Not quite, boss."

"Well, then what are you doing at Grey's desk?"

"Nothing, boss. Going right back to it now."

Scott snatched his cup of coffee out of the tray and returned to his desk. Slumping into his chair, he pressed a key and stared at the phone list on his screen which was still insanely long. With a sigh he shoved the telephone receiver between his shoulder and chin and started to type the first number.

Monroe grabbed his cup and walked over to his own desk and Lexie waited until he sat down before she asked. "So did you talk to Shaw?"

"What do you think I was doing all morning?" Monroe grunted.

Lexie took a look at her watch to check the time. It was a few minutes after seven and she had no idea when Monroe had started his day since seven o'clock was for him the middle of the morning.

"So what's the deal? Why is the FBI involved?" Lexie asked more eagerly than she had intended.

"You have to wait a few minutes, Grey. They should be here any second."

"They?" Lexie asked surprised but when she heard the bing of the elevator in her back she turned around with a bad feeling, staring over the bullpen to the elevator door, her body stiffened as no other than Mark Sloan stepped out of it, followed by his boss Grant Shaw.

Of course he looked breathtakingly handsome in full FBI attire and even though she had known that she should expect him to look incredible in a suit she still wasn't prepared for it. She hardly managed to keep her hands on the keyboard, the urge to check her hair and tug at her shirt was almost unbearable. She looked as if she'd just come back from a crime scene. But after all she was a field agent. He looked as if he wouldn't get anywhere near a crime scene because his suit might get dirty.

Dark shades were dangling from his fingers and Lexie couldn't help saying. "Do I need to put on my sun glasses? Because it looks like you are flashing a red light any second, erasing our memory."

"A movie reference. I'm impressed, Grey." Mark replied, leaning nonchalantly against her desk. "But I have to disappoint you, I'm not a Man in Black."

"Grant." Monroe nodded sharply.

"Andrew." Shaw replied sternly.

Any outsider who didn't know them would think that they were almost complete stranger but in fact there were actually friends which didn't mean that they didn't have a fight over jurisdiction every time they worked on the same case. But in the end they both wanted the same. Justice. Since the moment they'd realized they weren't that different their fights had become more like a game. Considering this case they didn't even have to fight. They needed the best agents for the operation and they happened to be from the FBI and the NCIS.

Mark leaned against her desk while his boss talked silently to Monroe. He looked at her intently, wondering if she would break eye contact but he saw the stubborn glint in her eyes and knew she wouldn't back down any time soon, so he grabbed her coffee cup and took a big gulp, scrunching his face at the taste. "Uggh, just for the next time. I'll take a Grande Cappuccino with two extra shots. But this will do for now."

If looks could kill he would drop dead right where he stood and satisfied with her reaction he shot her a lopsided smirk. He definitely enjoyed teasing her. It brought a flush to her face and a fire in her eyes he loved to see.

Lexie was fuming inside, her legs quivered as she suppressed the urge to jump up and slap the grin of his face. He was one arrogant and cocky bastard. But she knew it was exactly what he would wanted. So she gritted her teeth and stayed silent, assuming that no reaction was better than shouting at him in the middle of the bullpen in front of his and her boss. Definitely the smarter choice.

Scott observed from his desk, surprised that Sloan was able to rile Lexie up so easily. Normally she had no problem to banter with men. She was a natural, had always a witty remark on her lips. But she didn't give the FBI Agent any retort and Scott could see how the muscle in her jaw clenched, a telltale sign for her being extremely pissed.

With new interest he looked back at Sloan, studying his face. Scott had quite a talent in reading facial expressions, most of the time they told him more than the person said with words, a fact that a lot of suspects had found out while he interrogated them.

Sloan was definitely interested in Lexie. In a very personal way. Scott could see the glint in his eyes and decided that he definitely had to have a talk with Sloan. Just to set him straight on a few things. Only so that he knew that if he messed with Lexie he had to deal with him. She was his partner and he had her back. Always.

Scott stood up and walked over to him, stretching out his hand. "Special Agent Scott Burns."

"Special Agent Mark Sloan." Mark replied, squeezing Scott's hand as hard as he was squeezing his.

"Would you rein your agent in, Andrew." Grant said exasperatedly as he turned around and saw Burns shooting daggers at Sloan though he had no idea how Sloan had been able to irritate the other man in such a short time.

"I don't see a reason to rein him in." Monroe replied calmly, folding his arms over his chest. He had seen Sloan checking out Lexie and he wouldn't scold Burns for standing up for his partner. But he could feel the tension zipping back and forth between the FBI Agent and Lexie. He just hoped it wasn't sexual tension. They both needed to be sharp and not distracted for the operation and for a split second he contemplated if it wouldn't be better to send two other agents on the undercover operation as he saw Sloan returning his gaze to Lexie the moment Burns let go of his hand.

"We have an assignment for you." Shaw said, taking the decision out of his hand.

"Yes, Sir." Mark turned around to his boss.

"For both of you."

Lexie looked up surprised, shooting a questioning look to Monroe but he only nipped at his coffee, deciding to let Shaw do the talking though Lexie would bite his head off no matter who was telling her about the assignment.

"Andrew and I agree that you are the best for the job."

"What job?" Lexie asked, standing up so that she stood directly beside Mark, feeling more comfortably when he wasn't towering over her.

"We need you to go undercover."

"What about the case?" Mark asked, furrowing his brows in confusion.

"It's about the case." Monroe interjected before he returned to sipping his coffee, needing to take in as much caffeine as possible before he had to talk with Lexie.

"We didn't know until yesterday that Sutter was also a suspect in one of your murder investigations." Shaw explained. "We are trying to pin him for over a year now. We are suspecting him of human trafficking, drug dealing, arms dealing, … you name it, Sutter probably has his fingers in it somehow. But we can't get a hold of him. He doesn't give us one reason to even bring him in for questioning. He always only sends some small fishes who don't know a damn thing. So we need to switch tactics." He paused briefly locking eyes with his agent before he continued. "You are going to be a newly married couple ..."

"Married to her?" Mark interrupted him, not able to hide his surprise.

"Married to him?" Lexie said simultaneously, a flash of horror crossing her face before she was able to hide it behind her professionalism. She had had harder assignments than playing Mark's wife she reminded herself. Like getting tortured in Sudan when a mission had gone bad. Thinking about it a shudder went through her body and she had to force herself to concentrate on Shaw's words.

"We need to get near him. You're going to move in a few houses down from his. He has a wife, so hopefully Agent Grey will be able to get close to her at least."

"What if he already has seen me as a hooker?" Lexie asked.

"We thought of that. Mark fell head over heels in love with you, married you in Vegas and got you off the streets. So keep the hooker part to yourself at first but make it ominous when you are talking about how you two met."

"I have some problems with the head over heels part." Mark said slowly and a smile almost escaped Lexie as he looked at the disgusted expression on his face. At least the announcement of his boss had erased the cocky grin.

"What's the problem, Sloan? Not good enough of an actor?" Lexie teased. "It definitely is going to take all my acting skills to pull it off to be in love with you."

"Oh, I can act. You will be surprised, Grey." Mark conquered, crossing his arms in front of him, staring at her defiantly.

"Enough." Monroe said, breaking their staring contest. He waited until both turned their heads to him before he continued. "We are still working on your cover stories. You'll get them as soon as they are finished." Turning back to Shaw, he extended his hand and shook his. "Always a pleasure, Shaw. Now take your agent and leave my bullpen."

"The pleasure is all mine, Andrew." Shaw replied and walked towards the elevator, Mark following him silently. But when they waited for the elevator Mark's gaze returned to her and Lexie knew that it would cost her immensely to act as his loving wife on the outside while trying not to let herself get attracted to him for real. It was definitely going to be hard work and she was not looking forward to it.

~M&L~

"Monroe told me I would probably find you here."

Lexie took in a deep breath before she turned around and pulled the ear-protection and the safety glasses off and looked him square in the eyes. Yes, she escaped down here to shoot a few rounds, enjoying the somehow morbid pleasure of imaging him as the target. What really surprised her because he was normally not a very hotblooded person but this Special Agent of the FBI was getting more and more on her nerves.

"I prefer to have my shooting practice in private and peace. So what do you want?"

Mark held up a folder and walked towards her. "Our cover stories. I thought we should go over them together. You know, get our stories straight."

"Can it wait until tomorrow?" Lexie asked, clinging desperately to the last strings of her self control. "I'm kind of busy here."

"Yeah, sure."

Before she could put the ear-protection and safety glasses back on, Mark stepped even closer, lowering his face until he was only mere inches away from hers, his mouth twitching as he said slowly. "What about a little shooting match?"

"Why not?" Lexie shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "Ten rounds, the higher score wins. We are gonna take turns."

"Okay."

"Protective gear is over there." Lexie pointed to the other end of the room and Mark went over there to get it.

Putting it on, he stepped beside Lexie, his arm brushing hers on purpose but she didn't give him the pleasure to jump away. Not that he had really expected her to. She was an NCIS Agent after all. There was no place for being jumpy in their jobs.

"You first." He said quietly.

"No, you first."

Mark deliberately shot only a five and two six with his first three rounds, suppressing the smile when he saw her victorious grin as she shot two eight and a seven. Time to pull out the big guns, Mark thought, as he shot each of his remaining seven rounds square into the tenth ring,

"I think I have the higher score." Mark said smugly, pulling off the protective gear, shooting her a cocky grin. "Maybe you should practice more. I need a good shot as a partner."

"We are not partners, Sloan." Lexie gritted out through clenched teeth, angry about losing against him.

"I still need someone who doesn't shoot me in the leg accidentally when the chips are down." Mark told her before he turned around and walked towards the exit.

"I'm an excellent shot." Lexie shouted after him, now fuming with hardly suppressed rage. "I want a revenge match. Sloan, come back here!"

Mark only waved his hand in good-bye as he walked through the door, throwing a last verbal punch over his shoulder. "See you tomorrow, wife."


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for the reviews!**

**The bantering completely took over this chapter and Mark and Lexie didn't want to stop. I love writing those kind of chapters. I'm sure you don't mind. :-) Enjoy!**

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**Chapter 3**

Lexie had just arrived at the office when Scott came down the steps and shouted over the railing into the bullpen. "Sloan is waiting for you in the conference room."

Lexie sighed heavily before she stood up and walked slowly in the direction of the conference room. When she reached the door she took in a deep breath, before she exhaled slowly. She'd decided yesterday, after tossing around in bed for hours, that there was no way around it. She had to work with him. So they better stopped trying to yank at each other's chain. It would just made the job that more complicated if she reacted to his teasing as if she were a fifteen-year-old teenager. Straightening her shoulders, she reached for the knob and stepped into the room.

"Agent Sloan." Lexie nodded briefly at him before she went to the side table and poured herself a cup of coffee. "Do you want some?" Lexie asked him over her shoulder.

"No." Mark held up the steaming cup in front of him. "I'm good, _Agent _Grey."

Lexie could hear him stressing the word 'Agent' but she didn't take up the bait. There were here for work and nothing else.

"So let's see what they want us to do." Lexie sat down and opened the folder in front of her, scrunching her nose as she read the first paragraph. "So, I'm going to be the suburban housewife."

"You don't like it?" Mark asked, well aware that she must hate to play a housewife. Especially for him.

"I guess, there is not much jobs on the job market for a retired hooker." Lexie sighed, realizing that she had to deal with it.

"Guess not."

"So what are you going to be?" Lexie said, leaning back in her chair, taking a sip of her coffee.

"They wanted me to be a doctor but ..."

"Yeah, I can see that it would have been the perfect fit." Lexie interrupted him.

"Huh?"

"You know, you would nail the whole "Gods in white" thing." Lexie replied dryly. "Arrogant as hell, convinced of himself to a sickening degree and too handsome for his own good."

"Too handsome for his own good?" Mark cocked an eye brow, throwing her a smug grin.

"Of course that's the only thing you've heard." Lexie rolled her eyes exasperatedly. "Like I said it would have been the perfect fit."

"Yeah, probably. But I have zilch knowledge of medical stuff. It would have been too dangerous. Someone could ask me something I should know."

"So what _are_ you going to be?"

"A nerd. Or is the right term geek?" Mark shook his head and said. "Anyway, I'm some IT guy, working at a small firm in the middle of Washington."

"And you know about that stuff? Not scared that someone finds out that you are anything but."

"I know enough to avoid deeper questions. You know, programming isn't that interesting."

"Yeah, but hacking is." Lexie muttered under her breath.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." Lexie replied innocently and Mark furrowed his brows, knowing that there was more behind it.

"So, how come you aren't angry with me anymore?" Mark changed the subject since he'd wondered about it the moment she'd stepped into the room. "When I left you last night you were fuming. I was surprised that I didn't see steam coming out of your ears."

"Well, I realized it was childish to get all riled up about a simple shooting match." Lexie stated calmly.

"That's it?" Mark asked surprised.

"That's it and that you played with unfair methods."

"I did not."

"Of course you did." Lexie said firmly, her eyes meeting his.

"And what methods would that be?"

"You could have told me that you were a sniper."

"Where would have been the fun in that?" Mark grinned, his smile grew even wider when he realized that she had looked him up. ""Did you snoop around?"

"A little." Lexie admitted, averting her gaze back to the file in front of her.

"Wait a minute. You read my file?" Mark suddenly realized that she could only know about him being a sniper if she'd read his file and he wasn't sure he liked the fact that she had read it. There were some stuff in it that he would have preferred to keep from her. "How did you even get it?"

"Aehmm, ..."

"Oh I see, now your comment about hacking makes sense."

"When I want to be convincing as your wife, I need to know more about you than your name and profession." Lexie said, trying to distract him from asking too much questions about where she had her information from.

"I don't really care." Mark looked back at the file in front of him and said slowly. "They left it up to us to come up with a convincing story about how we met. So what do you think?"

"You mean to disguise the fact that we met because you needed to pay for sex?"

"Yeah, I don't know how we gonna sell that if someone ever finds out that you were a hooker."

"What do you mean?"

"Come on!" Mark huffed, standing up to walk to the coffee machine. "Look at me. As if I ever would need to pay for sex."

Lexie suppressed a smile and arched one eye brow, looking him up and down as he poured himself another cup of coffee. His mouth twitched up amused as he saw her checking him out and he leaned back against the table, waiting for her to finish her survey.

"Well, I guess probably not." Lexie said matter-of-factly.

"Probably not?" Mark replied slightly affronted and a laugh escaped Lexie's mouth as she realized that she'd apparently bruised his ego.

"Okay, okay." Lexie grinned up at him. "I was just teasing. I wouldn't have pegged you as being so self-conscious."

"Please, I'm not self-conscious." Mark huffed out.

"Then why are you such an easy mark?"

"I'm not … I don't know. Maybe you've caught me on the wrong foot."

"Hmm, does your ego need some strokes?"

Mark narrowed his eyes dangerously "Don't push it, Grey."

"It's different when you are at the receiving end, isn't it?"

"What receiving end?"

"The teasing."

"Can we just get back to work?"

"Of course, Special Agent Sloan."

Lexie felt satisfaction rising up in her chest as he saw how his jaw clenched. It was good to know that she was able to rile him up almost as easily as he was able to rile her up. But she decided to rest their little 'war' for now because after all they had a job to do and for the next twenty minutes they went over the file together working out the kinks until a knock at the door interrupted them and Scott's head appeared around the corner.

"Are you finished?"

Lexie realized that they'd actually talked their way through the whole file so she replied. "Yeah, we are."

"A word, Agent Sloan?"

Lexie furrowed her brows, looking from Scott to Mark, not sure if she liked how they looked at each other. As if they wanted to mark their territory.

"Sure." Mark said and stood up. "We'll see each other in two weeks then, Grey. By this time we should be married."

"Yeah, honey." Lexie replied. "I can't wait."

Mark chuckled as he closed the door behind him but the smile dropped off his face as he turned around and saw the stern expression on Burn's face.

"Just to be clear here, Sloan. If you hurt her in any way or touch her inappropriately ..."

"We need to play husband and wife, I don't know how I should sell that convincingly without touching her inappropriately." Mark said calmly.

"You know what I mean. Like I said, one false move, Sloan, and you have to deal with me … and Monroe."

"Are you jealous, Burns?" Mark asked tauntingly.

"No, I'm not." Scott replied calmly. "She is my partner, Sloan. She is one of ours and we protect her no matter the costs. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Mark replied, realizing that he would do the exact same thing if he was in Burn's position. He knew loyalty when he saw it and he respected it. "I understand."

~M&L~

"I love this house. It's incredible." Lexie exclaimed as she twirled around in the kitchen. "Look at this kitchen. I always wanted a kitchen like that."

"Aehhm, Grey. There is no one here for whom you have to play the thrilled wife." Mark said, watching her warily. She was acting strange. Since the moment they'd entered the house.

"But look at this gorgeous kitchen. So big. I love it."

Before Mark could say anything she was out of the room and Mark could only look after her with a baffled expression on his face. He would never understand women.

"Oh, my. Come in here, Sloan." Lexie shouted from the living room and he strolled into the room, hunching his shoulders in expectancy of the next outburst. "Look at this gigantic winter garden. This undercover job might not be that bad at all."

"What's gotten into you?" Mark asked, shaking his head disbelievingly.

"Mark!" Lexie looked at him with pity. "I'm still a woman."

"Huh?"

She walked over to him and patted his cheek. "Don't worry. You are a man. You aren't supposed to understand a woman."

Mark stared after her completely at a loss as she disappeared through the door and he followed her slowly, realizing that she went back into the kitchen again.

"It's a shame." Lexie sighed heavily.

"What's a shame?" Mark asked, already dreading the answer.

"That we won't use these awesome appliances?"

"Why won't we?"

"Can you cook?" Lexie asked, looking at him expectantly.

"Don't tell me you can't cook."

"Of course, every woman need to know how to cook. In which century are you living?"

"I always assumed it comes to all women naturally." Mark mumbled, his comment earned him a roll of her eyes.

"No, Sloan. It's not encoded in our gene code. But what did I expect? You are a man."

Without waiting for his answer she stormed out of the room and took the stairs two steps at a time. Mark followed her slowly, asking himself if he would survive one day living with her in the same house. He found her in the master bedroom, her eyes shining with joy.

"Yep, this is mine."

"No, no way." Mark said as he realized the implication of her statement. "I'm not sleeping on the couch in the living room."

"This house has several bedrooms."

"Nope, Grey." Mark crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the door frame. "I'm not taking the risk that someone comes into the house and find signs that I'm sleeping in another bed or that Sutter gets suspicious and uses a thermal imaging camera to spy on us and sees that we are not sharing a bed. It would blow our cover."

"Fine. Then we sleep in the same bed. It's big enough." Lexie replied, putting her hands on her hips. "But I swear, Sloan, if you scoot over during the night and put your paws on me ..."

"Won't happen."

"If you want to keep your fingers, you'll stay on your side of the bed."

"I will."

~M&L~

He had no idea how it happened. He definitely didn't do it on purpose but when he woke up at the crack of dawn, she was lying in his arms, her head resting comfortably on his chest and he could feel her even breath brushing over his skin. He would not read too much into it that he liked holding her in his arms. It was just his morning erection that clouded his brain. Nothing else.

He closed his eyes and contemplated what he should do. If he tried to slip out from under her she might wake up and she would definitely rip his head off when she realized where she was. Of course she would give him all the blame, though she was the one who snuggled deeper into his chest right now and huffed out a contended sigh before she slipped back into a deep sleep, making it that much harder for him to suppress the desire that was rising up in his body.

He needed to calm down first anyway. If she would catch him having an erection while her body was pressed alongside his, she would probably not stop with ripping his head off but cutting off his balls as well. Better to pretend he was still sleeping and let her deal with it when she woke up.

He didn't know how he managed it but apparently he had fallen asleep again and only woke up when he felt her stir in his arms. He made sure that he continued to breathe evenly, his arm still loosely wrapped around her upper body, his fingers resting on her stomach. He could feel her stiffen under him as she fully awoke and realized her surroundings. He was hardly able to keep his own body from reacting as he waited for her next move.

Lexie awoke slowly, her mind struggled to shake off the sleep. She felt warmth under her cheek and fingers and suddenly realized that it wasn't a pillow under her face but a living breathing body and since the only one who was in bed with her was Sloan he must be the one she was currently using as a pillow. Her first impulse was to jump up and shout at him for daring to put his fingers on her but a small part of her enjoyed the feeling of his bare chest under her hand and she closed her eyes for a few seconds, listening to his heart beating under her ear, feeling his chest rising and falling under her fingers.

She was willing to admit, though only to herself, that she was tempted to explore his body. He was ruggedly handsome after all and who was she to deny that there was sexual tension between them. But this what not the time and place to slip under the covers and still her curiosity if the rest of his body was as well-built as his chest. Better to just stand up and slip out of his arms, hoping that he wouldn't wake up. Everything else would just complicate the situation.

Sighing silently she slipped her hand over his and pulled it up slowly until she was able to extricate her body out of his embrace. He was only grunting when she put his hand back on his stomach and she remained sitting on the bed for a minute, only watching him sleep, her hands itching to trail her fingers over his jaw line. It was going to be a piece of work to ignore the desire for him over the next few weeks but she would manage. She had to. Slipping out of bed, she went to the bath room to take a shower and wash away the unwelcome desire for a certain man.

When Mark heard the bath room door he opened his eyes and a grin formed on his face. So she wasn't unaffected by him either. He could work with that. He just wondered how long it would take him to have wild sex with her, because judging from their conversations it would be wild and uncontrolled if they ever unleashed the desire that was apparently simmering inside of them. Maybe they should wait until it exploded. It would definitely be a memorable experience.

~M&L~

As she accompanied him outside after breakfast to send him off to work, being the good suburban housewife she was supposed to be, he couldn't resist to draw her against his body and steal a kiss from her. He hadn't expected her to reciprocate it but she did. Their kiss turning into pure heat and passion in seconds. Her fingers digging into his shoulders made him dizzy and breathless and his hands around her waist tightened, pressing her further into him, before the reality seeped back into his brain and he pulled away, staring dazzled at her.

"We said no tongue." Lexie breathed, licking her lips in a way that made it almost impossible for Mark to not give her another toe-curling kiss.

"You were the one who wanted to be the convincing wife." Mark told her. "We are only married for two weeks. Of course we have our hands all over each other. Besides, we are really a great match. Kisswise, I mean. Why shouldn't I enjoy the perks while we are undercover?"

"So kissing me is a perk?" Lexie replied smugly, ridiculously happy that she wasn't the only one who thought that the kiss had been great.

"Aehmm, … I walked right into that one, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did."

"So, one last peck for the beloved husband?" Mark teased and was completely taking by surprise by her response.

"Of course." Lexie replied with a dangerous glint in her eyes and she pulled him down, pressing her lips on his, her tongue darting into his mouth instantly, eliciting a groan out of him as her body molded into his, her center rubbing against him causing his body to react in the only way possible when a hot woman was kissing him senseless.

"You've done that on purpose." Mark growled when Lexie wriggled out of his arms and she smiled wickedly as her eyes dropped to his pants.

"Of course I did." Lexie replied contently. "Like you said, I'm enjoying the perks of this job, too."

"No way." Mark grabbed her by her arm as she wanted to walk away from him. "You're staying right were you are."

"Mark! Let me go." Lexie replied irritated.

"Can't! The neighbor." Mark whispered in her ear and shifted so that Lexie stood directly in front of him, blocking successfully the gaze of their new neighbor. She didn't need to see the tent in his pants. Lexie was so gonna pay for this.

"Hey there." The neighbor greeted as she approached them. "I'm Mollie Granger. Your neighbor. I just wanted to say hello."

Mark let his chin drop on Lexie's shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her from behind and laid them on her stomach, smiling welcoming. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Granger. I'm Dylan Baxter and this is my wife, Alexandra." Mark replied politely, taking a wild guess that she was married after seeing the wedding band on her finger.

Mollie stretched out her hand, shaking Lexie's enthusiastically. "My husband and I are living here for about six years now. So how long have you two been married?" Her gaze fell to their matching wedding bands as Lexie put her hand over Mark's. She could play the loving couple as well as he could and if he wanted to be the snuggling type than they were going to be the snuggling type in public.

"Only for two weeks." Lexie replied, turning her head to smile up at Mark. She really pulled off the loving wife, Mark thought, as he gave her a peck on her lips before they both turned around to Mrs. Granger again who smiled happily at them.

"That's lovely. So I don't want to intrude any longer. I don't want to disturb your young love."

"You are not intruding, Mrs. Granger." Mark said, pulling out on of his characteristic smiles that had never failed so far to charm the women. "We love to meet new people. Why don't you and your husband come over for dinner tonight? My wife is a great cook." Mark hissed out a breath when Lexie's elbow hit his ribs but he immediately turned it into a cough, smiling broadly at Mollie.

"Great. Thanks for the invitation. We are looking forward to come. Do we need to bring anything?"

"No, no need." Mark told her. "We have it all covered. So what do you say? About seven o'clock?"

"Perfect. So seven o'clock it is." Mollie beamed at him before she turned around and walked back to her house.

"My wife is a great cook? Are you insane?" Lexie hissed the moment Mrs. Granger disappeared in her house, shoving his hands away from her stomach.

"Payback is a bitch, huh?" Mark replied, grinning broadly.

"Payback my ass!" Lexie pinched his chest with her finger. "Just so you know you'll bring the food with you. I might need to play the suburban housewife but don't believe for a second that I'll really turn into one. That means no cooking, no cleaning the house or your clothes."

"What about cleaning my body?" Mark said suggestively.

"Sloan, you better go now!"

"Why?" Mark asked innocently.

"I'm sure you've read my file by now."

"Yes!" Mark admitted. "And?"

"So you do know that I'm very well trained in several martial arts. What do you think the neighbors would say when I throw you on your back in the middle of our front yard?" Lexie asked, her voice sweet as sugar, fluttering her eye lashes at him.

"That I'm a henpecked husband."

Lexie's mouth twitched at his comeback and she turned around to hide it from him as she walked towards the house. Stopping at the door, she swirled around, giving him a dazzling smile before she replied. "Damn right! So watch out! In a week you are going to crow on command."

Lexie could hear his amused laughter when she closed the door behind her, a smile gracing her lips as she realized that she enjoyed bantering with him. More than she probably should.

* * *

**I know I need to update "The Strange Ways of Destiny" and I will as soon as possible but I'm currently having a little writer's block when it comes to this story. I have quite a few written for later chapters but I'm struggling a little with the chapters in between. Well, hopefully I'll snap out of it soon. In the meantime I hope you enjoy the direction in which this federal investigation is going. :-)**

**Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm so sorry that it took me so long to write this chapter! I was really looking forward to write a lot in my one week off but then I made the mistake on Monday of actually starting to watch 'Alias', a show I always wanted to watch, and now I am obsessed. I already have visions of Mark being Lexie's handler. Yeah, my muse never shuts up. I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

The moment Lexie closed the door behind her she heard her laptop beeping, indicating a new message. She walked into the living room and slumped down onto the couch, giving herself a few seconds before she reached for the laptop on the table and propped it against her knees. As she'd expected the message was from Monroe, telling her to go online so that she could get debriefed.

"Good morning. Let me just get my coffee and then ..." Lexie began to speak the moment Monroe's face appeared on the screen.

"No one told you to fraternize with the FBI like that." Monroe barked.

"Are you sure we are on a secure line?" Lexie asked, slightly taking by surprise by Monroe's harsh tone.

"Grey, who do you think you are talking to?"

"Of course it's a secure line. Sorry, boss."

"I hope you still remember that this is an undercover mission, Grey." Monroe replied coldly. "You are on assignment. I hope you are not forgetting that."

"How the hell do you even know what just happened on the front lawn?" Lexie asked harshly, not liking to be getting accused of being unprofessional.

"I've honestly have to consider to pull you off the case."

"Why? I'm nothing than professional."

"So how could you forget about the security cameras we've installed all over the place?"

"Right. Security cameras." Lexie replied, cursing herself about forgetting all about the security cameras. "I guess I need a little more caffeine."

Monroe gave her a scrutinizing look but then just continued to debrief her, telling her how they should proceed the next few days, reluctantly acknowledging that Sloan had made the right move with inviting the neighbors for diner.

When Monroe left the place in front of the laptop, Lexie exhaled a deep breath, telling herself that she really needed to get a grip. The sexual tension, she was willing to acknowledge was obviously there between Sloan and her, could seriously damage the purpose of their assignment and she wasn't willing to do anything that could harm the mission.

"That was steamy." Scott's voice jerked her out of her reveries and Lexie furrowed her brows. "What was steamy?"

"Your performance on the front lawn." Scott replied with a big smirk on his face. "I had to fan myself."

"Scott, we are trying to work here." Lexie said exasperatedly.

"Lexie!"

"What?" Lexie snapped back.

"You sure you can do this?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The way I've seen it and believe me I've seen more than I wanted to see is that these were definitely no undercover kisses. Either you are both amazing actors or ..." Scott trailed off, waiting for Lexie to try to defend herself.

"Or what?"

"You weren't fake kissing at all." Scott elaborated.

"Scott, I don't like what you are implying." Lexie said sternly. "Sloan and I are supposed to be a newly married couple. I think our 'performance' on the front lawn, as you call it, was very convincing. Just helped to establish our cover story."

"Yeah, it did. But Lexie ..." Scott said calmly. "Be careful, okay?"

"I will, Scott." Lexie already wanted to shut down the connection before she suddenly blurted out. "Scott, wait a sec."

"Yes?"

"Are there any cameras in the bedroom?" The moment the words were out of her mouth she wished she'd never said them.

"Why do you wanna know?" Scott asked confused before it suddenly dawned on him why she'd asked. "Don't tell me you are going to ..."

"Just answer my question, Scott." Lexie interrupted him sharply.

"No, there are no cameras in the bedroom. But Lexie I ..."

Lexie pushed the button to disconnect the connection and pulled down the screen. She wasn't sure why she'd asked. She couldn't tell Scott the reason she wanted to know about the cameras because she didn't want him to know that she'd woken up in Mark's arms and wished for a brief second that she could act on the desire that had rushed through her body. She just wanted to make sure if she would decide to sleep with Mark that there would be no witnesses.

~M&L~

"So how did you two meet?" Mollie asked, not able to hide her excitement.

"I've worked in the … " Lexie paused briefly before she continued as if she needed to think about what she was going to say. " … entertainment business. I met Dylan in San Fransisco while we were both on a conference."

"What kind of entertainment business?" Greg, Mollie's husband, asked.

Mark suppressed a smirk upon hearing her job description. It was way better than to tell them that she'd been an erotic dancer and before she could say anything else, he jumped in. "Alexandra was a big star in Vegas. Behind the curtains of course."

Lexie could hardly avoid to roll her eyes. Now the techs would need to create traces so that if anyone would check it out they would find evidence that she'd actually worked at Vegas. But it was too late now to change it, so it was better to just roll with his story. "Yes, I was working in Vegas."

"Was?" Mollie asked. "Where do you work now?"

"Well, ..." Lexie turned towards Mark wrapping her arm around his shoulder, giving him a peck on the cheek. "I'm currently unemployed. Dylan swept me off my feet and I couldn't resist. I fell in love and when he asked me to marry him I just said yes and followed him to Washington."

Mark looked down into her face, pressing a kiss against her lips. "It was love at first sight."

"Ohh!" Mollie clapped her hands and smiled at them. "How romantic!"

"Yes." Lexie replied, laying her head on Mark's shoulder, intertwining their hands so that their matching wedding bands shimmered in the light. "Very romantic."

Two hours later Lexie closed the door behind the Grangers, sagging against the door in relief. "I thought they would never stop asking questions."

"Entertainment business?" Mark asked and Lexie felt the need to wipe the smug grin of his face. The grin that appeared way too often on his face for her liking.

"Should I have said I was an erotic dancer?"

"No. I like your job description better." Mark smirked. "And it's accurate. You did after all 'entertain'."

"You do realize that I actually didn't 'entertain' anyone."

"Yeah, that's a shame. I wouldn't mind getting 'entertained' by you."

"Sloan, ..." Lexie rubbed her forehead and walked past him without looking at him. "Just let's go to bed. I could feel a massive headache coming up."

"Am I going to get ..."

Lexie swirled around and pressed her hand against his chest before she hissed. "No! No entertainment in bed."

~M&L~

Three weeks later they didn't get any closer to Sutter. His wife barely left the house and even when they'd had a barbecue a week ago where they'd invited the whole street they didn't show up. Monroe and Shaw were already discussing to abort the mission because it was apparently fruitless and Lexie couldn't agree more.

She'd never looked forward to end an assignment as badly as this one. Playing Sloan's wife was driving her crazy. On the outside they were the perfect couple and she'd hoped that he would turn into a jerk the moment they were alone. But he didn't. He was as charming as he was in front of other people and his teasing was getting on her nerves.

Being forced to live with him had inevitably led to him changing clothes in front of her so she'd seen him shirtless quite a few times and she'd had to stop herself from actually drooling. He was extremely fit and she just had to admire his amazing physiques. But she was certain that there was no woman on earth who wouldn't enjoy looking at him.

She was driving him nuts. He actually almost blurted out a 'Thank God' when Shaw had told him that they were discussing to abort the mission. He was not sure how long he would be able to keep his hands off her. He knew it was his fault, but just the other day he'd walked into the bed room without knocking first and she was standing right in front of him with an excuse of a bra and panties that hardly covered anything and he'd wanted nothing more than to rush towards her and drag her to bed to rip the blue lace apart and bury himself deep into her. Of course he couldn't just smash her against a wall and go for it, so as sooner as they could go separate ways the better.

~M&L~

There were screams everywhere, piercing his ear drums. Explosions all around him. His face, his whole body was covered in dirt, the air was full of sand. He could feel it in his lungs. Every breath was full of sand and he was firing. Firing his gun until it was empty. Changing the magazine on autopilot, like he was trained to do.

The screams, they were ringing in his ears. The screams of pain, the screams of orders no one could follow. They were fighting for their lives, fighting to survive. They were just shooting at everything that moved and he felt detached from his own body. Looking through the scope was more clinical. The scope enabled him to concentrate only on his target.

But this? This was living hell. They tried to drill it into you. In boot camp. When they tried to prepare you. But nothing could prepare you for this. Nothing.

"Mark!" Lexie tried to shake him out of his nightmare. She could hear him whimper, his whole body tense as if he would shatter under her hands any second. "Mark, wake up!"

Mark jerked up, his breath came out in chopped hitches, his whole body was trembling and he could feel the cold sweat that covered his upper body. He could still here the screams and it took him a few seconds until he realized his surroundings.

Lexie's hand was pressed against his chest and he could feel her concern but he couldn't deal with her worry right now so he pushed off the covers and climbed out of bed.

"I'm fine, Grey. Just ..." Mark gulped hard, the remnants of his nightmare still clinging to his body. "Just go back to sleep."

"Mark, I ..." Lexie had slipped out of the bed, stepping towards him.

"Lexie!" Mark turned around, stopping her dead in her tracks. It was the first time he'd used her given name. "I need you to go back to bed and just leave me alone." As she didn't make a move back to the bed, Mark sighed heavily. "Lex, I don't wanna talk about it, okay? I don't want to analyze it. I can deal with it. I always have and I always will. Just go back to bed."

When Lexie slipped back under the covers and watched him walk out of the bedroom, she realized that no one ever had called her Lex before. No one ever had the idea to shorten her name like that and somehow hearing it from his lips made it his name for her. She didn't feel comfortable with that certain feeling, she didn't want to feel attached to him. But somehow over the last three weeks she learned more about him than she'd ever expected. More than she'd ever wanted to know.

~M&L~

"Lex, are you awake?"

Lexie's breath caught in her throat as his quiet voice reached her ear. This was the second time he'd called her Lex and she couldn't avoid to react to his soft voice. Her whole body screamed at her to just take what was right in front of her.

"Yes." She replied quietly. "I can't sleep."

"Me neither."

"Maybe it's the full moon."

"Yeah, maybe. Afraid I'm turning into a werewolf?"

Lexie turned around to face him before she answered him with a slight chuckle in her voice. "No. If you were a werewolf you would have turned into one already yesterday."

"And how do you know so much about werewolves?" Mark asked curiously.

"TV shows."

"So you are a TV junkie?"

"I actually don't have much time, but when I do have the time … yes, I love to watch TV. Mostly TV shows because I enjoy watching a story unfold. Movies are over much too fast in my opinion."

When he rolled over to lay on his back the sheet shifted to his hips and Lexie could see a scar shimmering in the pale light the moon provided.

"Tell me about it." Lexie said softly.

"Tell you about what?"

When Lexie's fingers trailed over the scar on his chest, Mark had to suppress a shiver.

"What happened?"

Mark closed his eyes and contemplated for a second if he should just lie or maybe just tell her to leave it alone. But he was in a strange mood and maybe it was because of the full moon. He actually didn't care. He wanted to tell her.

"We were on a mission and … you don't have to know the details but …" Mark held his breath for a second before he continued. "It sounds more heroic than it was. It's a bullet scar. I … I was nineteen and stupid. Jack just stood there while the bullets were blazing around him and he would have gotten hit any second, so I just jumped and wrestled him to the ground."

"Did you save him?"

"Yes." Mark replied quietly. "Yes, I did."

"So it wasn't stupid at all."

"No. Probably not."

"You saved a life, Mark." Lexie said firmly. "That's never stupid."

"I know."

Mark turned around to her and he couldn't help to reach for the tank top she was wearing. He pulled it up a few inches and traced his fingers over the scar on her stomach he'd seen when she'd been standing in front of him only in her underwear a few days ago. "What happened there?"

She hardly talked about it. Maybe it was kind of a defense mechanism. Like if she didn't talk about it it wasn't real. But she knew it was real. She just prefered to not talk about it. But being here with Mark lying in bed beside each other the room only being illuminated by moon light made it so much easier to talk about it.

"Sudan. It happened while I was on a mission in Sudan. I ..."

Mark waited patiently but when she didn't continue after a minute of silence he said. "You don't have to tell me, Lex. I'm the first who understands that you can't share some things with everyone."

Lexie put her hand over his and squeezed it slightly. "But I want to tell you."

Mark didn't remove his hand and somehow his fingers on her stomach made it easier to tell him. Maybe they connected her to the present so that she was aware that what she was going to tell him was the past and couldn't affect her anymore now.

"We had a leak and I got captured by a terrorist group. They …" Mark's hand tightened around her waist and gave her the strength to continue. "They tortured me for four days before the rescue team found me. It's a burn mark."

"Did they …" The words almost slipped out of his mouth but he could held them in. He hardly knew her but he knew there was no way that they didn't rape her. She was a woman who'd been held captive by men for four days. They would have considered it their right to rape her.

Lexie knew what he wanted to ask her and strangely she didn't feel as if he crossed a line he had no right to cross, so she rolled over to face him and stretched out her hand to lay it on his cheek. "Yes, yes they did. But it was a long time ago. It's in the past and I want it to stay in the past."

She couldn't see his eyes but suddenly Mark pulled her towards him so that her body was pressed into his and his lips hovered over hers as he whispered. "I'm sorry, Lex. I'm sorry that they hurt you like that."

His lips brushed over hers, she could feel his erection pressing into her and she opened her lips to let him in. But suddenly his body tensed and he went stock still.

"What?" Lexie asked silently.

"Shhh ..."

Mark turned his head, his hand around her arm tightened and Lexie immediately felt the adrenaline rushing through her body. Mark pulled back slowly, careful to make no sound as he slipped out of the bed, his hand automatically searching for his weapon on the night stand. Lexie didn't question him, didn't wait until she'd heard what he'd just heard. She trusted his instincts. He had been a sniper after all. She stepped out of the bed as quietly as he did, grabbing her weapon before she followed him to the door.

They walked silently down the stairs and Lexie strained her ears, trying to pick up any unusual sounds but all she could hear was the normal sounds of the house. The refrigerator humming from the kitchen. The clock ticking in the living room. Somewhere the dripping of a faucet.

Mark signaled her to go check out the back rooms while he was heading for the kitchen and she nodded her head in understanding as she crept towards the laundry room. Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness by now and she could make out the washing machine and the dryer but no shadow that didn't belong there.

Then she heard gunshots from the living room and rushed towards the sound, pressing herself against the wall, forcing herself to wait before she entered the room. But she couldn't hear anything and when she took a quick look around the corner she could see the open terrace door and a figure lying on the ground in front of it. She jumped into the room, taking cover behind the couch but no shot was fired so she stood up quickly and rushed to the body on the floor.

"Damn it!" She could see the dark pool beside his body and she discarded her weapon, her fingers racing over his body to find the injury. "Mark? Hold on, okay? There are gonna be here in a minute." Lexie looked up into the corner where she knew there was a hidden camera. "Agent down. We need an ambulance. Now!"

"Lex? I ..."

"Don't speak, Mark." Lexie finally found the wound and put pressure on it. "You are doing great. Just hold on for a few more minutes. Everything's gonna be okay. Just try to relax. The ambulance is on its way. You are going to be just fine."

Lexie pressed her hands against the wound in his side, feeling his blood seeping through her fingers, so she pressed even harder, ignoring Mark's moans. She would net let him die. She would not let him bleed to death under her hands.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The water swirled around in the sink, tinted red by his blood. Her hands were shaking as she washed them over and over again, rubbing at her skin, turning the temperature as hot as she could, but her hands still felt ice cold.

It had been so much blood. It had seemed to rush out of him, it had felt as if his life was streaming through her fingers. But the doctor had assured her that he would be okay. He'd lost a lot of blood but he was going to be fine. He had been lucky. Somehow Mark had managed to turn away from the bullet so that it hadn't hit him square in the chest though he couldn't completely avoid it. It had still pierced through the left side of his chest but miraculously hadn't hurt any vital organs before it had lodged itself in his left biceps.

He was in surgery right now. But he would make it. He was stable. He would recover fully.

Lexie stared at her pale face in the mirror. Maybe repeating it over and over again would help her to believe it. She had thought she'd lost him. She'd been convinced that he would die right there on the carpet. But he didn't.

Even though she knew he would make it, even though she knew he didn't die, her body refused to cooperate. She was still shaking and she willed herself to take in deep and slow breaths. She needed to calm down before she was able to go to the waiting area. She would stay until he was out of surgery. She needed to see him, needed to see him breathing before she would be able to go home.

She would ask a nurse if she could give her some scrubs to change into. She'd refused to leave Mark's side, riding with him in the ambulance on his way to the hospital. She was still wearing the tank top and shorts she'd put on before going to bed that night. Red handprints were smeared over her white shorts where she'd apparently rubbed her hands up and down.

Lexie tore her gaze away from the red stains, pressing her eyes shut for a few seconds as light headiness overwhelmed her. She would not faint. Not now. After everything was over. She would just walk out of the room and talk to the next nurse who'd cross her path and then she would sit down and wait. Wait for him to get out of surgery so that she could see for herself that he was still alive.

~M&L~

Lexie opened the door carefully, not wanting to disturb him if he was asleep. But the moment she stepped into the room Mark slowly turned his head towards her.

"Disappointed?" He rasped, his eyes still clouded by the anesthesia.

"About what?"

"That he'd missed any vital organs?" Mark asked, giving her a tired smile.

"You don't joke about something like that, Sloan." Lexie answered quietly.

"I know." Mark said apologetically, seeing the worry in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Grey."

"So how are you?"

"I'm fine." Mark shrugged his shoulder, forgetting his injury for a second and hissed out a cry of pain as his movement felt as if someone had stabbed a knife into the side of his body.

"You don't look fine." Lexie replied more harshly than she'd intended to but the urge to rush to his bed side and stroke his hair had slapped her completely unexpected in the face.

"My ego is more bruised than my body." Mark leaned back into the cushion carefully, gritting his teeth while the pain still rolled in waves over him.

"Yeah, I can imagine." Lexie stepped closer, laying her hand on his good arm. "I'm sorry, Mark. I'm sorry you've got shot."

"It wasn't your fault, Lexie."

"If you hadn't been so lucky you wouldn't ..." Lexie started to speak but Mark stopped her by putting a finger over her lips. "Don't say it. I'm alive. Nothing else matters."

Lexie pulled his finger away from her lips and laid his hand back on the bed. "You are right. Nothing else matters."

Mark wanted to intertwine his fingers with hers, wanted to pull her down to kiss her lips but she pulled her hand away before he could act on any of those thoughts and she was already half way across the room as she turned around, giving him a shaky smile. "I'm glad you're okay, Mark. I'll go and let you have some rest now. See you tomorrow."

~M&L~

"How is Sloan?" Scott asked when Lexie sat down opposite from him the next morning.

"He is gonna be fine." Lexie replied, answering him without looking up while she booted up her computer.

"What about you?" Scott stood up from his desk and walked to hers. "Are you okay?"

"Why shouldn't I be?" Lexie typed in her password, turning around to get a stack of files. "I wasn't the one who got shot."

"Lexie, it's me." Scott put a hand over hers to stop her hands from opening the first file but she still refused to look up, so he put a finger under her chin and lifted it gently. "Talk to me."

Lexie was just too tired, too exhausted, to mask anything and she just looked into his eyes, unguarded, letting him see everything there was to see.

"Oh!" Scott squeezed her hand slightly. "Oh, Lexie. He matters?"

Lexie nodded, turning her gaze back to the files on her desk before she whispered. "But I don't want him to matter."

"What happened while you were undercover? Did you sleep with him?"

"No, no I didn't sleep with him."

"But?" Scott prodded.

"We would have if the shooter wouldn't have showed up." Lexie admitted.

"So what's the problem? You are apparently attracted to him."

"He's gotten too close, Scott." Lexie looked up at him again and Scott could see a slight flicker of fear cross her eyes.

"How close?"

"I told him about Sudan." Lexie gulped hard and Scott raised his eye brows in surprise.

"That is pretty damn close, Lexie."

"I know."

"Are you in love with him?"

"I … I don't think so. Not yet anyway." Lexie said quietly. "But if I don't step on the brake right now I'm going to fall in love with him."

"Lexie, you can't run away from love forever." Scott stated firmly. "Why don't you give him a chance?"

"I can't, Scott. I'm too scared."

"Too scared of what?"

"Of losing him." Lexie admitted quietly after a few seconds of silence.

"You need to stop being afraid, Lexie." Scott said softly. "It's too damn lonely if you don't let someone in some day."

"Maybe some day. But not today. Besides if I recall right you aren't in a relationship right now either."

"You know I'm just taking a little breather after Lauren and I broke up. I'm going back on the market pretty soon."

"I've always admired that about you." Lexie smiled shakily.

"Lexie, I don't really like Sloan. Too cocky for my taste, but you apparently like him." Scott said. "A lot obviously. Just do me a favor and think about it. Don't turn your back so quickly, okay?"

"Okay. I'll think about it."

"Okay."

"Grey, Burns, conference room. Now." Monroe barked as he rushed past them and Lexie and Scott followed him without questions. Lexie definitely needed some answers and hoped that the forensic team did find a lead on who had been in their house yesterday. She needed to find the person who almost killed Mark.

~M&L~

"It's about time you show up. Did it occur to you that I might wanna know who shot me?"

"I see you are already grumpy which means you are on the way to recovery." Lexie replied cheerfully, secretly happy to see him already doing much better than yesterday.

"Cut the crap." Mark growled. "What son of a bitch shot me?"

Lexie's smile dropped off her face and she stepped forward to the end of his bed, wrapping her hands around the metal before she met his eyes. "Forensic found nothing, Mark. I'm sorry."

"What do you mean nothing? There has to be something." Mark leaned forward, pressing a hand against his side as his wound shot pain through his whole body.

"Would you please calm down!" Lexie hurried to his bed side, pushing him gently back. "You are gonna tore your stitches."

"I don't care about the stitches." Mark grunted.

"Don't be silly, Mark." Lexie shook her head exasperatedly. "You need to rest."

"How the hell should I rest when the shooter is still out there? You wanna tell me you wouldn't want to find him if you were in my position?"

"I don't need to be in your position." Lexie snapped back, slightly peeved. "Do you really believe I don't want to find him? Do you think we don't do everything we can? God damn it, Mark! We were undercover together. You were my partner. I want to find him as much as you do."

"Okay, okay." Mark held up his hand in apology. "I get it. Sorry."

"I shouldn't have snapped at you like that." Lexie replied sheepishly.

"I deserved it." Mark admitted, his mouth twitching up in a lopsided grin. "Just tell me what you know, will you?"

Lexie told him everything they knew by now what wasn't much. They were only speculating that Sutter was behind the shooting and they hoped that he would be satisfied with giving him this warning. They didn't believe they would go after Mark.

Mark thought so, too. But he didn't like it. He was a man of action. He hated to be bed-ridden. He wanted to hunt the shooter down by himself. But he knew that was not an option and he trusted Lexie. They would pursue all leads and would not stop until they would find him.

"We'll keep you updated, okay?"

"Not much I can do other than lying here and staring holes into the wall."

"Just promise me that you will allow your body to heal. Can you do that?" Lexie asked quietly. "For me."

"How should I deny such a beautiful woman anything?" Mark joked lightheartedly.

"I'm not talking to your doctor to get you out of the hospital earlier." Lexie replied determined.

"Sure you can't help out an old man?"

"Yeah, right. Old man." Lexie snorted. "I'm sure you already have every nurse wrapped around your little finger."

"Not every nurse." Mark grinned broadly. "There is Nancy who is about sixty. She is a dragon."

"That's one out of how many? Six?" Mark nodded, the smile still splitting up his face. "So the other five are doing everything you want them to the moment you shoot them your charming smile, right?"

"Sounds pretty much right. Yes."

"See. I don't have to do anything for you. It's all taken care of."

"I wouldn't mind a little 'get well' kiss." Mark wiggled his eyebrows and Lexie leaned forward as if she would press her lips on his but she only pressed the button of his morphine pump before she straightened again.

"The morphine apparently makes you delirious." Laughing out loud upon seeing the pout on his face, Lexie walked to the door, throwing over her shoulder. "See you tomorrow."

~M&L~

"Agent Grey, a word please?"

Lexie turned around surprised, looking stunned at Mark standing a few feet away from her.

"Agent Sloan, what are you doing here?"

Mark only nodded towards the stair case and without waiting he turned around and walked towards the door. Lexie furrowed her brows but decided to follow him, not wanting to have a scene in the middle of the bull pen and judging by the expression on his face he would not just leave if she would ask him to.

She hadn't expected to get away easily. She was actually surprised that he didn't come sooner. She hadn't seen him over the last six weeks. She hadn't even talked to him. The moment she had stepped out of the hospital room she had realized that bantering with Mark wouldn't make it any easier to stay away from him, so she'd decided to give them both some space. After all they still didn't know if Sutter had sent the shooter and they weren't any closer to catching him, so there hadn't been a reason to call him but apparently he wasn't pleased.

When she walked through the door she saw that he was heading for the roof and she climbed up the stairs after him, already dreading the conversation ahead of her. The wind almost knocked the door out of her grasp and she shivered as she stepped out on the roof. Mark was eying her thoroughly and Lexie wrapped her arms around herself. She didn't know if it was the wind that made her shiver or if his cold stare was the reason for it. Probably both in equal parts.

But suddenly his expression softened and he stepped closer, shrugging out of his leather jacket to drape it over her shoulders. Lexie immediately slipped her arms into the sleeves, welcoming his body heat the jacket was emanating. Pulling the lapels together with her fingers she stared up at him, not able to say a word when she met his blue eyes. He brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear and his fingers lingered for a second on her cheek before he took a step back and cleared his throat.

"Why are you dodging my calls?"

"I'm not dodging ..." Lexie replied automatically but Mark interrupted her. "Don't lie to me, Lex. You are evading me. Why?"

"It's complicated."

"Then explain it to me. Did I do something wrong?"

"No, you didn't."

"The last time I saw you I was lying in a hospital bed while you told me about the case. I have to say I prefer lying in bed with you. At your or my apartment. I don't care where we go."

"It's not gonna happen."

"Do I have to remind you of the last time we were in bed together?" Mark stepped closer, invading her personal space. "We would have had sex if we wouldn't have gotten interrupted."

"Maybe it's better this way."

"What do you mean?" Mark narrowed his eyes dangerously. "I'm sure it would be great."

"We would be fantastic in bed together, Mark. That's not the problem."

"So what _is_ the problem? Why shouldn't we have mind-blowingly fantastic sex with each other? I don't get it."

"At the beginning of the undercover job it probably would have been only sex and without doubt great sex which would have left us both satisfied I suppose but now ..."

"What now?" Mark huffed out frustrated. "What's different now?"

"Now you are more than a hot man I want to jump into bed with." Lexie tried to explain. "I like you, Mark. I really do. I don't want to destroy the friendship we might be able to build."

"Screw the friendship." Mark took her by her shoulders, his face now only inches away from hers as he hissed. "I want you, Lexie. And don't tell me that you don't want me. Because I know you do."

"Yes. I do." Lexie replied quietly, her calm tone making him step back. "But what would happen after we had sex? Are you sure we could stop after just one night? I don't think so and you might deny it but there is more between us than sexual desire and I don't want to fall in love with you. The thought that I could lose you … it already scares me now … without us having any kind of a relationship. We have to face the truth, Mark. We could die every day. We don't have an office job from nine to five. I can't let you in, Mark. It's just … it's just too much."

"So you are just going to throw everything away?" Mark shouted angrily. "Everything that could happen between us, that should happen between us? You are a coward, Grey. You are damn fucking coward."

"Yeah, maybe I am. But I choose the safer route. I'm chickening out here."

"You don't know what you are missing out on, Grey." Mark said, staring at her intently but Lexie didn't budge and Mark finally gave up and just walked past her without looking back.

"I think I do." Lexie whispered as she looked after him as he stomped angrily towards the door. "I do, Mark."

She wanted to run after him, wanted to stop him but she didn't. She buried her face in his jacket and smelling his unique scent brought tears to her eyes. The moment the door closed behind him she realized that it might be already too late. She was probably already in love with him. Now she just needed to find a way to unlove him again.

* * *

**Honestly, I'm not really looking forward to Grey's tomorrow. I'm still not 100% sure what SR has decided about Mark. Either way it's going to break my heart. Might need to watch the Castle premiere from Monday again after I watched Grey's just to cheer me up. **


	6. Chapter 6

**I argued with myself if I should post it today or not. But well, I finished it today so I thought I shouldn't hold it back since I don't have time to post it tomorrow. But you might not wanna read it before Grey's tonight because I have to warn you that the ending is very dramatic. So read at your own risk! Enjoy!**

**Chapter 6**

She missed him. She missed him terribly and she had no clue why it was so different now. Before he came to see her, she hadn't seen him for six weeks and had never felt this way. Maybe it was because his leather jacket was a constant reminder. Even after one week it still smelled like him and every day she told herself that she would not go over there and take it in her hands to bury her nose in it. But she failed each and every day.

If she was honest she secretly hoped to see him again because he wanted to get his jacket back. But he hadn't shown up. Maybe she should just send it back to him. But she couldn't. She felt like a drug addict. Needing a fix every night.

Lexie slumped down on the couch, her gaze fixated on the jacket. Something had to change. She couldn't go on like this. She never was a woman who pined after a man. Either she got him or not. But she'd never been truly in love before. Being in love changed everything and even though she tried very hard to unlove him she didn't succeed.

He was on her mind 24/7. Invading her dreams. Dreams that left her completely rattled. Either she dreamed about him taunting her, telling her how good they would be together or her dreams were so erotic that her whole body ached for him when she woke up.

But the dreams weren't the worst. The worst was her vivid imagination when she was awake. Over the last week she'd thought she'd spotted him on the street several times and each and every time her heart had skipped a beat until she'd realized that it wasn't Mark.

She seemed to smell his scent everywhere. Apparently each and every man in Washington was wearing the exact same cologne, assaulting her nose every time she went outside. It was driving her crazy. It had to stop. She needed to find a way to forget about him.

~M&L~

"Okay. That's it." Scott smashed his stapler on his desk, making Lexie jump at the sound.

"Excuse me?"

Scott shoved his chair back and stood up, stomping towards her. When he reached her desk he grabbed her phone and threw it on the table so that it slithered over the surface almost dropping over the edge before Lexie could stop it with her hand. "Call him."

"Call who?" Lexie asked irritated.

"You damn well know who you should call. It's enough." Scott leaned forward, putting his fists on her desk. "You are going out with him and you are going to have incredible sex."

"I'm not gonna call him." Lexie replied, holding his gaze. She would not call him after she'd just decided to forget about him.

Scott inhaled deeply to hold his temper under control. He barely lost his temper and he would never hit a woman but maybe he should slap her on the head to knock some sense into her.

"Okay. Let me get this straight." Scott narrowed his eyes and Lexie saw how his gaze flickered towards the leather jacket that was lying on the counter behind her. She had thought no one would notice but Scott apparently did. Folding her arms in front of her chest she leaned back in her chair.

"It doesn't smell anymore, does it?" Scott asked, raising one eye brow in question.

"Huh?" Lexie could only stare at him, unable to understand what he was asking her about.

"The jacket." Scott replied, satisfied when he saw her flinch. "You can't smell him anymore."

"God damn it, Scott." Lex snapped forward, putting her hands directly beside his, leaning forward so that their faces were dangerously close. "How the hell do you know such things? Are you sure you're not gay?"

"I'm just observant. Comes with the job, I guess." Scott shrugged his shoulders before he returned to the subject. "So I'm right. How about you actually meet him in person instead of wearing his jacket because you miss him?"

"You are a pain in the ass, Scott." Lexie muttered, slumping back on the chair.

"I know." Scott lowered his voice, continuing sympathetically. "You are in love with him."

"I can't be in love with him." Lexie said harshly, not even making an attempt to deny it. "I shouldn't be in love with him."

"But you are." Scott stated firmly.

"Yeah, I am." Lexie whispered, covering her face with her hands.

"So tell me, did your feelings for him change since you've seen him a week ago?"

"No, but ..."

"Do you think it will make any difference if you don't see him again?"

"I sure hope so." Lexie snapped before she continued much calmer. "Time heals every wound."

"So you are seeing the love to him as a wound that needs to be healed?" Scott asked incredulously. "You know, wounds heal but they still leave scars."

"I ... no ... I don't think ... Fuck!" Lexie leaned forward and knocked her head against the desk repeatedly, cursing frustrated under her breath.

Scott waited patiently until she looked up at him again, his eyes boring into hers, demanding from her to give him an answer.

"You don't have by any chance a time machine?" Lexie asked him with a slightly shaking voice.

"Lexie, you need to jump. You can't expect the love to just go away. You don't want to look back on your life one day and wonder what could have happened if you had let him in. No more hiding. You want him, you get him." Scott pushed the phone towards her again. "Call him! Now!"

"Fine. I'll call him tonight."

"No." Scott said determined. "Now!"

"Like I said, pain in the ass." But Lexie started to scroll through her phone list, searching for Mark's number but before she could dial Monroe rushed into the bull pen, shouting. "Grey, Burns, we have a lead. Gear up!"

~M&L~

Not being allowed to go in the field was driving him crazy. He felt fit for field duty, he wanted to get back out there. But he was still waiting for the okay from the doctors. So the only thing he could do to get rid of the pent-up energy inside of him was exhausting himself. So he jogged every day until his legs and lungs were burning, followed by some weight lifting in his fitness room.

But it didn't help. He still felt restless, not to mention that he couldn't get her out of his head. He had never chased after a woman, he never needed to and he should probably just let her go. After all she was talking about falling in love with him. He didn't need such a complication in his life. Then why the hell couldn't he stop thinking about her?

He'd never pegged himself as being husband material but being fake married to Lexie for five weeks had changed his opinion on that. He'd enjoyed it. Immensely. Not once in his life had he lived with a woman in the same apartment. He'd always insisted on two apartments. But the two serious relationships he'd had never lasted long enough to reach the point where it would have been necessary to change the arrangements. He never was in love before, never wanted to get married.

He'd always pitied those men who got burned by a woman. It had never happened to him. No woman ever mattered. But strangely and without him really noticing it Lexie did matter. Not seeing her, not hearing from her for over six weeks, had made him uneasy and he'd missed her. He still missed her.

He should have probably told her that he wanted more than sex. But wanting more actually scared the crap out of him, so he let her believe that he was just looking for a hot affair. But if he would have wanted only sex he wouldn't have gone after her. He could have sex by only walking into a bar.

No, he wanted her. Only her. But now his pride was standing in his way. He wouldn't be the one who made contact with her again. This time she had to come to him. But damn it, she had his favorite jacket.

Frustrated he let the weight drop to the floor, swiping away the sweat from his face. "God damn it, woman. You're not going to get the better of me." Looking in the mirror, he saw the frustration written all over his face. "I need a time-out."

And there was only one way to clear his head completely of her. At least for an hour. It had been a while since the last time he had been at the training course. It wouldn't hurt to practice his shooting skills a little bit.

When he arrived at the course Paul took just one look at him and reached for the gear, shoving it into his arms. "You are lucky. The course is free. You have an hour."

He had been right. It helped. When he took off the helmet after shooting the hell out of the course for one hour, the better part of his frustration was gone. But it didn't mean that he didn't still miss her. He had to do something about it soon. Before he needed to see the FBI shrink because a woman was driving him insane. More than one agent would have a field day if they would ever find out that Mark Sloan had been rejected by a woman.

~M&L~

Lexie had always asked herself why the best leads always ended in some industrial area with abandoned warehouses. It felt as if they'd just jumped into a movie. But nonetheless the adrenaline was cursing through her veins as Scott and she walked along the wall of a building, their guns ready in their hands.

Scott signaled her to stay behind him while he rounded the corner and Lexie stepped out of the shadow of the house with her back towards him to canvass the area behind them. It was eerily quiet. The only sound was the grit scrunching under their feet.

Something felt wrong. It was too quiet. Lexie had the sick feeling that they were walking into a trap. Narrowing her eyes she searched the perimeters, hoping to see any movement but not even a bird was flying off a roof. "Do you see anything?"

"No. Nothing. It seems as if ..." But Scott couldn't finish the sentence as the sound of three bullets, fired rapidly in a row, pierced the air.

Lexie swiveled around, seeing Scott falling to the ground and she jumped behind a dumpster, her eyes frantically searching for the shooter but she didn't see anyone. Scott was moaning a few feet away and Lexie took a last look around before she crawled over to him, ripping his jacket open, expecting to see the bullets lodged into his bullet proof vest. All color drained out of her face as she saw only the holes the bullets had left. The shooter had used 'cop killers'. The vest had been useless.

Her hands fumbled shakily with the zipper of his vest, losing important seconds before she was able to open it. Tears sprang to her eyes, as he saw the three entry wounds, realizing immediately how hopeless it was. But she still pressed her hands against his chest, trying to stop the blood.

Lexie looked down at him in horror, pictures of Mark lying in front of her flashing up in her brain. He'd just gotten shot seven weeks ago and now she was again trying to stop a body from bleeding to death. But her hands were already bright red, covered with his blood and she knew putting pressure on his wounds was pointless. It was too much blood. So much more blood than when Mark had been shot.

Lexie hadn't realized that she'd been saying Scott's name over and over again until his eyes fluttered open and his hand grabbed hers weakly.

"Lexie, ..." His breath became erratic and he gulped hard before he continued, his voice now barely audible. "Promise me, you'll call him."

"Scott, please!" Lexie pleaded. "Stay with me! Please!"

"I want you to be happy. Promise me, you'll give him a chance."

"Shh, Scott. Don't speak. You are going to be fine."

"I'm not ..." Scott closed his eyes for a few seconds and Lexie already thought he'd passed out but then he opened them again slowly. "I'm dying, Lexie."

"No, no you're not." Lexie shook her head vehemently.

"I am." Scott replied softly. "Just promise me you're gonna be okay."

"Scott, I ..." The tears were streaming down her face now and her eyes were glued to his, her fingers digging into the back of his hand. She didn't want to see the truth but she could already feel his fingers getting cold, could see it in his eyes that he was slipping away. "Scott, no!"

"You need to jump." Scott murmured.

"I will. I promise." Lexie whispered, leaning down to press a kiss on his forehead. "I will."

"I'll watch you from above."

Lexie could only stare at his face as his eyes went blank and his hand fell out of her grasp. She was kneeling on the ground, the blood of her partner soaking through her jeans and she couldn't move. She'd lost him. She'd just lost her partner.


	7. Chapter 7

**My opinion on Thursday's ep is at the end of this chapter. So consider this the 'Spoiler Alert' warning!**

**I hope you enjoy the chapter. I wrote the end scene weeks ago and I couldn't wait to get to this part of the story. :-)**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

"Special Agent Sloan?"

"What is it?" Mark snapped back. He wasn't in the mood for small talk right now. The situation with Lexie was keeping his nerves on edge. He'd already picked up the phone five times this day with the intent to call her but every time he couldn't bring himself to actually press the call button.

"Special Agent Monroe just called."

Mark's heart fell into his stomach at the mention of Lexie's boss, the face of the Junior Agent telling him that Monroe hadn't been calling only to give him an update and he leaned back against his desk, fearing that something had happened to Lexie.

"Special Agent Grey and Burns were pursuing a lead when Special Agent Burns got shot." Mark's shoulders slumped down in relief but the serious look on the Agent's face made him dread what would come out of his mouth next. He would deliver bad news. "He died at the scene."

Mark closed his eyes for a few seconds, scolding himself for being relieved that it hadn't been Lexie who had been shot. His heart squeezed in his chest when the reality of what happened finally settled in. Lexie lost her partner. He knew what it was like. He'd been on three tours. He'd lost a lot of people.

"Thank you, Agent Callister." Mark said brusquely, hoping that the Agent would leave his office but he apparently wasn't finished yet.

"Special Agent Monroe told me to tell you that Special Agent Grey is at home now and that she is okay."

"She is not okay, Callister." Mark barked, shaking his head as he saw the astounded look on Callister's face. He shouldn't kill the messenger. He doubted Monroe believed Lexie was okay but the NCIS Agent was a smart man. He knew Mark would need to check for himself how she was doing. He apparently believed Mark might be able to help her and he would at least try. "You are not okay when you've just lost your partner."

"Of course, Sir. I'm sorry."

"Never mind." Mark grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair and walked briskly towards the door. "I have to go."

~M&L~

She should have protected him. He had been her partner for almost five years. They'd trusted each other. At first out of necessity but over the years they'd become friends. She knew that everyone at the Navy Yard thought that they were together, that they were partners in their personal lives, too. But they hadn't been. They'd always been friends. Nothing more. They'd never wanted to be more than friends. As strangely as it might sound but they'd never felt the pull.

She'd lost one of her best friend. He'd bled to death under her fingers while his only concern had been her happiness. She knew it wasn't her fault but the guilt was eating at her. Maybe if they'd done something different, if she'd done something different he would be still here. He would greet her with one of his cocky smiles tomorrow morning, joking about the close call.

She jerked her legs up, wrapping her arms around them, laying her face on her knees, the sharp bones pressing into her eye sockets and a whimper escaped her throat when she saw Scott's face at the back of her eyelids, his eyes twinkling with amusement before the image changed and she saw him lying on the cold concrete, the blood pooling around him, trying to give her a last shaky smile before his eyes went blank and his grip on her hand slackened. It had all happened so quickly. One second he was giving her signs to stay behind him, having his back, and the next she heard the shots ringing through the air and Scott just fell to the ground without making a sound.

She was barely holding on. She didn't know how to cope. First Mark got shot and facing the possibility that he could die had shaken her up immensely. But he'd pulled through. Scott didn't. She knew they had a high risk job, but what are the chances that two of her partners got shot at within two months?

Her whole body felt cold. On the inside and on the outside. What was the freaking point in making friends, falling in love, when you could lose the people you love in a blink of an eye?

She'd promised Scott to give Mark a chance, to give a relationship with him a try, to let him in. But she wasn't sure if she could keep that promise. What if she would lose him, too? What if she would let him into her heart and then he would get ripped away from her side like Scott? She hardly knew how she should go on with her life after Scott's death. After she'd lost her partner. Her best friend. What would happen when she would lose the man she was in love with?

A knock on the door made her scrunch her face in confusion. She wasn't expecting anyone. She wanted to grieve. Alone. She wanted to go back to the industrial area over and over again in her mind in the hope that replaying Scott's death a hundred times would make it less painful. She stumbled to her feet when the knocking didn't stop. Fury was rising up in her chest, fury towards the one standing on the other side of the door. Jerking the door open, she had already a harsh comment on her tongue when she locked eyes with the man she would have expected the least.

"Mark?" She asked confused, wondering if her mind was playing tricks on her but when she heard his deep voice replying to her, she had to lean against the door to stay upright as her knees seemed to buckle under her.

"Can I come in?"

The sight of him made her realize that he was the only one she actually wanted to see right now. She didn't want to question it, didn't want to dwell over the meaning of it. She was just glad that he was here. She opened the door wider to let him in. She couldn't say anything. She was afraid that the moment she would open her mouth, she would start to cry and she didn't want to cry anymore.

Mark's heart broke for her as she opened the door. She was anything but okay. He only needed a second to take it all in. The dark circles under her eyes, the puffiness of her face which indicated that she had been crying, the devastation in her eyes and the hollowness of her cheeks making it look like she'd lost ten pounds since the last time he'd seen her.

Stepping into her apartment, he waited until she closed the door behind them before he said quietly. "I've heard."

Lexie almost choked on the sobs that rushed through her throat as she heard the tenderness in his voice, as she saw the understanding in his eyes.

"I ..." Lexie licked her lips, balling her hands into fists at the side of her body, her nails digging into her flesh and her vision suddenly blurred as the tears welled up in her eyes. "He died." Gulping hard, she lifted her hand, pressing her trembling fingers against her closed eyelids, taking in sharp breaths.

Suddenly she felt Mark's hand on her shoulder, pulling her into his arms and she wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his chest as a sob escaped her throat. "He just died, Mark."

"I'm so sorry, Lex." Mark whispered into her hair, his arms tightening around her. "I'm so sorry."

She almost broke down as she listened to his whispered words, his hands were brushing soothingly over her back and Lexie bit her lip, trying to mash down the tears that rose up in her chest. But when she turned her head, a whiff of Mark's cologne reached her nostrils and she remembered sniffing his jacket, remembered the conversation with Scott only a few hours ago and the loss slammed into her chest, making it almost impossible to breathe.

"Let it out." Mark said quietly, brushing his lips over her forehead. "I'm here. You don't need to hold anything back. I'm here."

His words sliced right through her defenses and the tears burst out of her eyes, strangled sobs tore at her throat and she clasped his shirt in her fists as she let the grief and loss take over her body.

Mark pulled her closer, letting her cry as long as she needed to, giving her the silent support of his embrace. Holding her shaking body was the only thing he could do for her right in that moment. He would talk to her later. But right now she needed to let the grief out of her body. Otherwise she would drown in it.

He didn't know how long they were standing in the middle of her living room before the sobs subsided. He didn't care. If she needed him to stand there all night he would do it.

Strangely Lexie didn't feel embarrassed. Maybe she should. Ten days ago she'd pushed him away. She'd told him that she didn't want to start an intimate relationship with him. But here he was, comforting her in one of the worst moments of her life and she'd never felt more secure. Being in his arms was the only place she wanted to be right now. The pain of losing Scott was still weighing on her chest but Mark's presence relieved the pressure a little bit. She needed to talk about it and he was the only one she could imagine talking to about it.

"How do you go on with your life? How do you survive?" Lexie leaned back, pressing her hand against his chest to get away from him. She needed to distance herself from him for a minute. She needed to see his face when he answered her.

"You just do." Mark replied calmly.

"You just do?" Lexie punched her fist into him, feeling relief when her hand connected with his rib cage and she started to pound on his chest, the hurt over Scott's death bursting out of her in violent strokes as she screamed at him. "I can't just do. He was my partner. My friend. He is gone and I will never talk to him again."

Mark didn't defend himself. He knew she needed to get it out of her system. The hurt. The anger. He didn't care if he would end up with some bruises. He could take some sore muscles if it helped her.

"He died! He freaking died on me! How could he do that to me?" Lexie couldn't see anymore where her fists were hitting Mark because the tears were streaming down her face again. "He can't be dead. He just can't."

When Mark felt her punches weaken, he put his hands on her arms, pushing her gently back. "It's never easy, Lex. Losing someone … it leaves bruises." He let one hand trail along her throat up to her face, caressing her cheek as he continued in a low voice. "On your heart. On your soul. Especially violent deaths."

"I forgot for a second that you were in the military." Lexie whispered, flattening her hand against his chest, brushing her fingers over the fabric to smooth out the wrinkles her fingers had left on it.

"We chose a profession where we can lose someone every day, Lexie. We just have to live with it."

"I know that." Lexie replied calmly. "In my head. But actually losing someone so close to your heart ..."

"It gets better with time. But it will never go away completely."

Lexie could hear the sadness in his voice and looked at him thoughtfully. He had been in the military for several years. He probably had lost more men than she could imagine.

"I can see the scars." Lexie lifted her hand, wrapping her fingers around his.

"What do you mean?"

"You are hiding them very well. But I can still see them."

"They are all over my body. You've seen me in shorts. It would be hard to hide them."

"I'm not talking about the physical scars, Mark." Lexie pulled his hand down from her face, putting their entwined hands directly over his heart. "I'm talking about the ones you can't see. The ones you don't show everyone."

She felt his hand stiffen, could see it in his eyes that he wanted to back away but she didn't loosen her grip, holding his gaze with her eyes.

"Don't close up on me, Mark." She begged him quietly. "Not now."

"Death was always only a step away." Mark replied, tightening his grip around her hand. He wasn't able to keep his walls up. Not in front of her. "You never forget a single one of them. Each death leaves a hole in your heart. They heal with time but every death leaves a scar."

Lexie's eyes glistened with tears as Mark repeated almost exactly Scott's words but she'd cried herself out. She just hadn't any tears left.

"You learn to live with them." Mark lifted her hand to his face, pressing a kiss against her fingers. "The only way to honor the lost lives is to live your life to the fullest."

"Mark?" Lexie stared up into his eyes, her fingers tingled where his lips had brushed over her skin.

Looking at her face, Mark held his breath, seeing the desire in her eyes. He wouldn't like what would come out of her mouth next. He wasn't sure he was strong enough to resist her. This wasn't the time. It wouldn't be right. Ten days ago she'd told him they couldn't sleep together because she feared that she could lose him and just a few hours ago she'd lost her partner.

"Can we forget for one night?" Lexie asked.

"Forget what?"

"The scars. Life." Lexie shrugged her shoulders, the grief being deeply settled in the depths of her eyes.

"What are you asking of me?"

"To forget in the best way we can. The only way we can."

"I'm not sure I want to hear the rest. We shouldn't ..."

"I want you, Mark. You know that." Lexie said firmly. "I'm done wasting another minute of my life."

"You are gonna regret it tomorrow." Mark replied. "You are gonna despise me for taking advantage of your grief."

"So you're gonna walk away?"

"I would if I could."

Mark leaned down, crushing his lips on hers. He had every intention of being gentle, to take his time. But when her mouth opened under his and their tongues met, the passion overwhelmed them.

Desperate tongues clashed against each other, frantic hands roamed over bodies, mouths sucked on sensitive flesh, teeth scraped over skin. They went insane. Clawing, bruising, scratching as their bodies overpowered their brains, giving them what they wanted most.

A few moments where nothing else mattered than to feel the heat of each other's skin. A few moments where they could forget about their scars. A few moments where they didn't need to face the harsh truth of reality.

Sighs and moans filled the air, whispered names on a breath of air. Groans escaped throats as they pushed each other towards the edge. Their hearts were beating wildly, their bodies were slick with sweat as they drove each other closer and closer until they both hit their peaks, spiraling into release.

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**Sooo, ... about Thurdays's ep.**

**At least she let him die, too. I feared she would let him leave Sofia or some bullshit like that. I would have really liked a flashback with Lexie but at least she gave us the 'Who would your partner be' moment. I have to admit when he said Lexie Grey it made me all teary-eyed. Imagine they would dance at his granddaughter's wedding sixty years from now.**

**There is only one episode left and then my days of watching GA are over. I'm actually glad I don't have to watch the Callie festival the show obviously is going to turn into. If Eric would still be on the show I would have still watched it because I love Mark Sloan (obviously) but they are both gone now, so I can stay in my happy fanfiction bubble where I can write about them getting together and live happily ever after as much as I want. **

**R.I.P.**

**Mark Sloan**

**and**

**Lexie Grey**


	8. Chapter 8

**Happy New Year, everyone!**

**I know it's been forever and I don't have an excuse except that I lost half of this chapter when my computer crashed a few months ago and I completely lost the groove for this story. It wasn't easy to come back especially since this story is in a sad place right now but I was finally able to write a new chapter. I hope you enjoy! **

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**Chapter 8**

He couldn't remember the last time he'd slept that good. Maybe it was due to the exhaustion after he'd made love to Lexie for hours or maybe it was sleeping beside her that had kept the nightmares away. But when he turned his head the place beside him was empty and he pushed himself up, leaning against the headboard, listening for any sounds in the apartment. Since it was her apartment she couldn't have sneaked out and he shook his head to clean it from the last remnants of sleep. Tilting his head, he strained his ears and exhaled a relieved breath when he heard her rummaging around in the adjoining bathroom. Seconds later she stepped out of the room in sweatpants and a simple white shirt, jolting in surprise when she saw that he was awake.

"Hey."

"Hey." Mark said quietly, watching her intently. She had dark circles under her eyes and she didn't look like she got a lot of sleep. "Did you sleep at all?"

"An hour, maybe two." Lexie didn't look him in the eyes while she fidgeted with the hem of her shirt. He knew she would regret what they did. Gritting his teeth, he inhaled deeply through his nose before he exhaled quietly through his mouth. He let the sheet fall to his waist, determined to use his body for his advantage.

"Lex?"

Her eyes shot up at the tender tone of his voice but she didn't reach his face, her eyes stopped on his chest as he had expected. He felt a slight pang of regret that he needed to use his body to coax her back into his arms but he would not let her throw up some defense walls and using his body was the best way he could think of avoiding it.

"Come here." Mark kept his voice calm but the words came out more hoarse than he'd intended to and he saw how Lexie flinched and cursed inwardly. "Please." Mark said quietly, locking eyes with her. "Come back to bed."

Lexie bit her lip, looking at him sprawled over her bed. His chest was magnificent, she had to give him that. Everything about him was magnificent. But she shouldn't have slept with him. Sleeping with him so close to losing Scott was … terrible. How could she fall into bed with Mark after such a loss?

But when she looked in Mark's eyes she knew he only wanted to help and she could hear Scott's voice in her ears, whispering '_Promise me, you'll give him a chance_'. Her chest tightened and tears pricked the back of her eyes. Scott had wanted her to take this step, he'd almost pushed her into Mark's arms. Somehow she was soothed by the thought that he was sitting on a cloud looking down at her, grinning from ear to ear, though she knew that it was probably only wishful thinking. But nonetheless she walked towards the bed and slipped under the cover, pressing her body against Mark's, wrapping her arm around his waist, burying her face in his chest.

"It hurts so much." Lexie whispered.

"It won't stop hurting for a while, Lex."

Lexie bit her tongue, Mark using the short version of her name, the version only he used, made her almost lose it completely.

They lay there for quite some time, Lexie only concentrating on listening to Mark's heartbeats under her ear, feeling his hand stroking over her back. Suddenly, out of the blue, a question rose up in her. Something she wanted to ask Mark. Something she felt she needed to know. Something that might help her dealing with Scott's death.

"Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Of course." Mark replied quietly.

Lexie slipped out of under his arm and sat up. "You don't have to answer it if it makes you uncomfortable. I just ..."

"How about you ask me the question first and I decide then, okay?"

"How many?" Lexie blurted out, kneading her hands. She was not able to look him in the eyes, fearing that she might have overstepped. It _was_ a damn personal question.

"How many what?" Mark asked quietly, stroking a finger down her arm in an attempt to soothe her. She looked at if she could snap any second, her whole body tight with tension.

"How many lives?" Lexie blurted out, jerking up her head, suddenly needing to see his face if he decided to answer the question but Mark looked slightly taken aback and Lexie said quickly. "I … I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked ..."

"What do you wanna know exactly?" Mark asked slowly and he leaned forward to put a finger under her chin, pulling her head up gently until she looked up again. He brushed with his thumb over her cheek, sighing inwardly, not sure if she really wanted to hear his answer to her question. But he could see the pleading in her gaze, could see the grief settled deep in her eyes. If he could help her by telling her, he would tell her. But he needed to know what exactly she wanted to know. "How many lives I lost or how many lives I took?"

Lexie stared at him, feeling his thumb brushing over her cheek and she closed her eyes for a second, leaning into his touch before she opened them again, saying determined. "Both."

"You sure you wanna know?" Lexie only nodded and Mark let his hand drop down and leaned back against the headrest, pressing his fingers against his closed eyelids as if he needed to think. He didn't need to think about it, though. He knew exactly how much lives he'd taken, he just needed a few seconds to tell her.

"I shot 53 people."

"And how many did you lose?"

"I don't know the exact number." Mark replied.

"You know how many you've shot but you don't know how many you've lost?" Lexie could see how uncomfortable her question made him but she still couldn't help herself to press further. "I find that hard to believe."

"Lex, please!"

"Sorry." Lexie said, scrambling to the bedside. She knew she shouldn't have asked. She should go into the kitchen and busy herself with making breakfast to give Mark time to regain his composure. But before she could slip out of the bed, his hand shot forward and tightened around her upper arm, pulling her back into his arms.

Laying on his chest she could feel slight tremors running over his body and she already regretted that she'd asked him but then she felt his chest rising under her ear as he took in a deep breath and she held her own, waiting for his response.

"One hundred and thirty-two. That's the number of people I've lost." Lexie heard the hoarseness of his voice, husky with emotions and she leaned back, needing to see his face and Mark continued, barely above a whisper. "The ones I knew personally. The ones I considered my friends."

"How ..." Lexie licked her lips, raising her hand to press it against his chest. He wasn't looking at her, he was looking out of the window and she could see the ghosts of the past clouding his eyes. She knew she shouldn't push him, but she needed to know. "How did you forget?"

It took him a few seconds until he turned his head and met her eyes."I already told you. You will never forget."

"But how ..." Lexie began before she suddenly didn't know how to word the question.

"I'm sorry, Lex. But I'm not gonna lie to you." Mark replied softly, entwining his fingers with hers. "I can still see every single one of their faces when I close my eyes. Maybe it's the violence of their deaths that makes it impossible to forget. At least that's what the shrink told me."

"You had PTSD." Lexie said quietly, seeing the same shadows crossing his face that she'd seen on so many other faces of soldiers who came back from deployment, on faces of soldiers she'd met while she was on her overseas assignments. Soldiers who were haunted by the things they had seen.

"Everyone who comes back from war has PTSD, Lex." Mark said, his voice eerily emotionless. "In one way or another. We are all struggling with the memories that never leave us."

"But you survived."

"Yes, but it wasn't easy to come back. Not easy at all."

"But you did it." Lexie said quietly, waiting a second before she continued. "How?"

"Everyone copes in another way."

"But how did _you_ do it?" Lexie asked insistently.

"I accepted that I will never forget it." Mark said simply, elaborating further when he saw that his answer didn't really satisfy her. "I have a little box in my head where all the memories are in. Once a month I drive up to a cabin in the mountains, close the door, shut off my phone and let them out."

"All of them?" Lexie asked, her mouth rounding with surprise.

"Yes, Lex." Mark replied, smiling sadly when he saw her baffled expression. "All of them. It might not be the healthiest way but it works for me. For one day I let myself remember before I put the memories back into the box."

"Does it work? I mean … are they staying in the box?"

"Most of the times."

Lexie remembered the night during their undercover assignment where she'd woken up to his screams, the night where she'd shaken him out of one of his nightmares. In those six weeks he had had one nightmare or at least one she knew of. So his memories were still torturing him. She still had nightmares of her own from time to time. She knew what he wanted to tell her even if she didn't like to hear it.

As if he was reading her mind Mark said. "Lex, you are a strong woman. You survived Sudan. Scott's death … it won't break you."

"You're probably right." Lexie replied. "But it doesn't make it hurt any less to know that I have to go on with my life. A life without him in it."

"I know. You ..." Mark got interrupted by the beep of his phone and he grabbed it from the nightstand, pressing the button to read the message. Looking up, he leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss against her lips before he slipped out of bed, grabbing his clothes. "Sorry, I need to go. Work."

Lexie watched him get dressed and something about him avoiding her eyes made her curious and she cleared her throat to make him look at her and raised an eyebrow in question. She was pretty certain why he acted so weird but she wanted him to say it out loud, to confirm her suspicion.

"I pulled some strings." Mark shrugged his shoulders, answering her silent question.

"You're investigating his death?" Lexie whispered.

"We're gonna find Scott's murderer." Mark stepped forward and bend down, taking her face between his hands. "I promise. I won't rest until we have him, okay?"

"Okay." Lexie replied quietly, brushing her lips over his. Seconds later she heard the door and slumped back against the headboard, the sudden silence of the apartment making her quiver. How was she supposed to get through the day without any distractions?

~M&L~

Mark canvassed the surroundings, turning around slowly in a circle, searching for the right spot. Suddenly he stopped, his gaze locked on the roof of a building about three hundred yards away. Shading his eyes with his hand against the sun, he realized that it would be the perfect spot.

"Hey." Mark stopped the next uniform and pointed to the roof. "Check out the roof of this building."

"Sir?"

"I think the shooter fired from there."

"Excuse me?"

Mark wanted to shake him, getting extremely annoyed for having to explain everything. "I was a sniper ..." Mark took a look at the officer's jacket to get his name before he continued. "So you might wanna get your ass up there, Colins, and check for evidence."

"Right on it, Sir." Colins replied quickly as he realized that he was talking to a FBI agent.

Mark followed the police officer with his eyes, making sure that he would follow his orders but suddenly a commotion at the barrier caught his attention. Someone was arguing with an officer, trying to get behind the cordon, probably a reporter. Mark was certain the police could deal with it but then the officer shifted slightly to the left and he saw the person who wanted to step through the barrier and couldn't suppress a sigh. He should have known that she couldn't stay away. He should probably help out because he was certain that Lexie wouldn't go away.

"Let her through." Mark said quietly as he reached the officer. "She is a NCIS agent. She belongs to me."

The officer hesitated a second before he let Lexie through and Mark grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side. "Lex, what are you doing here?" Mark said, slightly angry. "You shouldn't be here."

"I had to." Lexie said, giving no further explanation and one look in her face made it clear that he couldn't convince her to leave.

Lexie looked him square in the eyes before she stepped away from him and walked slowly towards the crime scene. Mark followed her quickly, wanting to be next to her when she saw the blood that had soaked into the concrete.

Lexie's curt steps faltered slightly when she spotted the blood on the ground but she still stepped closer, crouching down directly beside the dark red spot. She stretched out her hands until they were hovering only a few inches above the concrete where Scott had died.

She didn't move for a few minutes, only staring at the ground and when she finally stood up again and met his eyes, Mark almost flinched back when he saw the look in her eyes. He could only see revenge. Hot and cold at the same time.

"We need to find that son of a bitch." Her voice was as cold as her eyes and Mark had to suppress a shudder. He shouldn't have let her through the cordon. He should have kept her away from the investigation. He almost let out a sigh of relief when he heard Monroe's voice behind his back. "Agent Grey, a word please."

Maybe it was more effective when her boss talked to her. She wouldn't listen to him anyway but she might listen to Monroe. He sent a silent prayer skywards, hoping that Monroe would be able to convince her to step away from the case. Mark had thought it might help her if she was included but the look in her eyes made it clear that she was blinded with rage. She would be like a ticking time bomb. No one would know what she would do when she would stand directly in front of Scott's murderer and he couldn't blame her. He would feel the same way if it was his partner. That was the reason why he didn't want to have a partner. It was easier to work alone.

He threw one glance back to Lexie and Monroe before he turned around and walked towards the building he'd sent Colins in. He would check for himself. It might be of help when a former sniper took a look at the place the shooter had probably fired from.

As he reached the roof he waited until the officers were finished with collecting the evidence before he stepped to the brink of the roof, looking down to the crime scene. His sniper senses took in the distance in seconds, his head turned automatically as he tried to determine how the wind conditions were on the roof. The building was surrounded by larger buildings that probably caught most of the gusts of wind that were coming in over the industrial area. It was a perfect spot.

Mark crouched down, letting his hands trail over the gravel that was covering the roof top. Looking around he saw that someone had actually brought a rifle up to the roof and he shouted towards the officer nearest to him. "Will you hand me the rifle?"

The man took one look at his FBI jacket and the authority he'd heard in Mark's tone made him rush to the rifle and handing it to Mark. Mark laid down on the ground, adjusting the rifle and when he looked through the scope he spotted Lexie and Monroe. He fixated the rifle on Lexie, watching the emotions running over her face. She was extremely pissed. He could tell. But this wasn't his concern right now. He shifted the rifle a few inches to the right and concentrated on the blood spot. It was the perfect spot. Every trained sniper could take such a shot.

Mark looked up from the rifle and propped his chin on the metal, cursing under his breath. He'd hoped that he would find something on the rooftop that would make the shot a lot more challenging so that they could limit the number of possible shooters. But you didn't even need military training or a special sniper rifle to take this shot. The shooter could be practically anyone.

~M&L~

Late at night, as Mark studied the case files, trying to find a lead, the one thing they might have missed that would lead them to Scott's murderer, his thought process got interrupted by a knock on his door. A look on the clock told him that it was already two o'clock in the morning and that he should probably get some sleep and he furrowed his brows when he heard a second knock, followed by someone pounding against his door. He couldn't imagine who would want to see him at this time of the night but he stood up nonetheless and walked to the door. Judging by the intensity of the knocks, the visitor, whoever it might be, wouldn't stop until he opened the door anyway.

The moment he turned the knob and opened the door, he was knocked back when the person on the other side shoved the door into him and he stumbled back, a curse already forming in his throat but before he could utter one word, the person stepped into his apartment and just jumped him, pressing her lips against his, forcing her tongue into his mouth and before his brain even registered that it was Lexie who kissed him, he already dug his fingers into her ass, kissing her back with as much passion.

She didn't even give him the slightest chance to form one coherent thought. One of her hands was already on its way down his stomach, searching for the zipper of his pants. He knew he should stop her, he knew he should stop her frantic attack, he knew that she only needed a distraction, that having sex with him was her cope mechanism but he also knew that she needed it. He had been to war, he had dealt with losses in the same way that she was trying to deal with right now. It had helped him. For a few minutes.

But he actually cared about Lexie and he knew she cared about him. He wouldn't deny her to escape reality for a few precious moments. But he would make sure that she wouldn't use him just for sex. He would stand by her side. All the way. He would not lose her. He would not let the darkness, the grief, destroy what was between them.

Lexie knew she shouldn't use Mark like this. But she needed him. She needed this. She needed to feel alive and if anyone could understand why she was doing what she was doing it was him. She couldn't think about where this whole thing with Mark was going. Not now. For now she needed his body. She needed him to make her forget.


End file.
